Stemonitis

Stemonitis is a distinctive genus of slime moulds found throughout the world (except Antarctica). They are characterised by the tall brown sporangia, supported on slender stalks, which grow in clusters on rotting wood.^[2] The genus was first described by German botanist Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch in 1753. A 2014 estimate suggests that there are 18 species in the genus.^[3] Identification within the genus is difficult, and can only be performed with confidence using a microscope or by DNA sequencing. A fossil specimen (in Burmese amber) is known from the mid-Cretaceous (99 ma).^[4]

Stemonitis Temporal range: Cenomanian–Present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Stemonitis fusca or similar species in the White Mountain National Forest
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Phylum:	Amoebozoa
Class:	Myxogastria
Order:	Stemonitidales
Family:	Stemonitidaceae
Genus:	Stemonitis Gled. [1]
Type species
Stemonitis fusca Roth in Roemer & Usteri (1787) [1]

Species

The following species are accepted by Species Fungorum:^[5]

• Stemonitis axifera (Bull.) T.Macbr. (1889)
• Stemonitis farrensis T. N. Lakh. & Mukerji (1977)
• Stemonitis ferruginea Ehrenb. (1818)
• Stemonitis flavogenita E. Jahn (1904)
• Stemonitis foliicola Ing (1967)
• Stemonitis fusca Roth (1787)
• Stemonitis graciliformis Nann.-Bremek., Mukerji & Pasricha (1984)
• Stemonitis herbatica Peck (1874)
• Stemonitis inconspicua Nann.-Bremek. (1966)
• Stemonitis laxifila Nann.-Bremek. & Y. Yamam. (1988)
• Stemonitis lignicola Nann.-Bremek. (1973)
• Stemonitis marjana Y. Yamam. (2000)
• Stemonitis mediterraneensis H.H. Doğan & Eroğlu (2014)^[3]
• Stemonitis mussooriensis G. W. Martin, K. S. Thind & Sohi (1957)
• Stemonitis nigrescens Rex (1891)
• Stemonitis pallida Wingate (1899)
• Stemonitis rhizoideipes Nann.-Bremek., R. Sharma & K. S. Thind (1984)
• Stemonitis smithii T.Macbr. (1893)
• Stemonitis splendens Rostaf. (1875)
• Stemonitis virginiensis Rex (1891)